Tombstone (The Spectacular Spider-Man)
L. Thompson Lincoln (also known as Tombstone or The Big Man of Crime) is one of the two main antagonists (the other is the Green Goblin) of the animated TV series The Spectacular Spider-Man. Tombstone is depicted as a calculating, emotionless and highly intelligent crime lord known as The Big Man (as opposed to being a Mafia enforcer like his comic book incarnation) though to the public he has the image of benevolent wealthy man, acting as a philanthropist. He was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also voiced The Joker. Personality Although it is never specifically stated that he is either mutated or invulnerable, he does boast a chalk-white complexion and oddly pointed teeth. He easily bests Spider-Man in a physical confrontation at their first meeting, in which he did display superhuman strength and reflexes, catching and crushing a pool ball with a single hand, seems unconcerned about being killed in a bomb blast — even helping Spidey look underneath tables for the Green Goblin's "special" explosive — and takes several of Green Goblin's razor-bats through his back seemingly without pain in "The Uncertainty Principle". In "Gangland", he is able to hold his own in a fight against Doctor Octopus and Silvermane, the latter of whom had used a hydraulic exoskeleton to increase his strength. He turned to mega-villainy as Tombstone. Tombstone appears as the Crime Lord, controlling some events in the show. Biography Though little of his early life is unknown, it is possible he is born with albinism that helped increase his strength and durability. Later in his life, he becomes New York's "Big Man of Crime" sometime after the previous Big Man of Crime, Silvermane, is arrested and exposed. Tombstone has been in control of his criminal empire for 12 years. His voice is first heard as the "Big Man" when he has Hammerhead send the Enforcers to challenge Spider-Man during his fight with the Vulture. In Season 1, Norman Osborn tipped off The Big Man about a TRI-CORP shipment that was carrying a pair of Vibro-shock units and a protective suit. Tombstone and Hammerhead sent Montana and his men to steal that shipment, Hammerhead ordered Montana to don the suit and become Shocker. But Shocker once again failed to defeat Spider-Man, so Tombstone working through Hammerhead made a deal with Norman Osborn. Tombstone noticed that when Spider-Man engages in battles with the likes of Vulture, Lizard, and Shocker, he is too busy to interfere with The Big Man's empire. So he asked Norman Osborn to create super-villains to distract Spider-Man. Norman agreed since he would gain huge profit by making super-villains for Big Man This results in the creation of Sandman and Rhino. Tombstone's operations were being ruined by Spider-Man, who was taking down many of Tombstone's criminal underlings. When Tombstone heard rumors of the web-slinger, he had Hammerhead investigate the matter proper to make sure his criminal associates were sincere. He makes an offer to Spider-Man that he will stop using metahumans so long as Spider-Man keeps his nose out of his affairs; he even pays Spider-Man in advance. Obviously Spider-Man refuses and will keep fighting him in spite of the supervillain onslaught coming his way sooner or later. Later, Tombstone appears in his alter ego as philanthropist L. Thompson Lincoln at a dinner party before the party was crashed by a mysterious, and psychotic supervillain wearing a Halloween themed costume, the Green Goblin. The Goblin demands Tombstone to step down so he can take over his own empire. Tombstone tries to have security take down the Goblin, but he easily defeats them and threatens to destroy the party with the Pumpkin bomb. Spider-Man arrives and managed to defeat the Goblin, but the ballroom is about to be destroyed by the Goblin's pumpkin bomb, so Spider-Man goes back to stop it before it explodes, with the help of Tombstone. After Spider-Man saved the ballroom from being destroyed, Tombstone lets Spider-Man know that it is ironic that he helped his own business for free instead of paying him for rescuing him and the hostages. Later on, on Halloween, Tombstone continues to deal with the Goblin at large, while the Green Goblin captures Hammerhead and tries to lure Tombstone and Spider-Man into a trap. Goblin warned Tombstone that Hammerhead has a portable junk drive with enough incriminating evidence that will put Tombstone to jail and it is now in Goblin's hands. If Tombstone does not get a hold of the drive tonight, it will be too late. So he and Spider-Man go to a steel mill where Hammerhead is held hostage and is suspended over a vat of molten metal. They both learn that the Goblin did indeed set a trap for them and has lied to both of them that the junk drive is real, which is not. Tombstone is forced to team up with Spider-Man once again to defeat the super-villain while he rescues Hammerhead. Tombstone and Hammerhead soon get on the Helicopter and left Spider-Man to deal with the Green Goblin. Later in the season, Tombstone encounters the symbiote-influenced Spider-Man who arrives to demand the previous job opening. Tombstone agrees on the condition that Spider-Man does not fight crime for a week unless it was a supervillain. However, later on, after Spider-Man realized the Symbiote's control over him and breaking free from it, he returns to Tombstone and broke their deal, saying that no amount of money is worth turning a blind eye to his works, and vows to bring him down. After Spider-Man leaves, the symbiote soon enters, which has now bonded with Eddie Brock to become Venom, and takes up Tombstone's job offering. Tombstone tasked Venom to destroy Spider-Man. In the second season, Tombstone does not appear in the first half of the season. But in the latter half of the season, Tombstone becomes involved in a gang war for control over New York with the Master Planner/Doctor Octopus and the recently released Silvermane. He even brought back the Enforcers to build up an army, something that angered Hammerhead as he is been left out of the loop after his failures. This causes Hammerhead to secretly turn on the Big Man after Norman Osborn manipulates him to do so. Tombstone sets up a meeting with the Master Planner and Silvermane right before Hammerhead betrays them all and a fight ensues, which attracts the attention of New York and Spider-Man himself. During the fight, Tombstone assists Spider-Man facing the other two, after taking into the thought of his public image if he also fights Spider-Man in front of witnesses. When Silvermane and Doctor Octopus are taken out, Tombstone and Spider-Man battled each other in the sewers before he too is overpowered by the Super-Hero and is exposed and arrested for his crimes. But before being taken to custody, Tombstone fired Hammerhead for his betrayal. However, Tombstone manages to pay for his bail but is put under surveillance by sixteen different government agencies, crippling his operations. After leaving prison, he goes back to his Criminal Empire, questioning that Hammerhead has never shown any signs of betraying his boss. He soon learns that the Green Goblin has been the mastermind all this time, setting up the Crime Lords in a trap and is secretly responsible for Hammerhead's treachery, having been using him as a pawn to take down the other Crime Lords. Thus, this leaves the Goblin to take over New York as the new Big Man of Crime and laughs in triumph, much to Tombstone's dismay. After this, he is never seen in the series again. It is unknown what happened to Tombstone since the series ended. There are possibilities that he is still at large, sent back to prison, or that he was killed off-screen by the Green Goblin. Gallery Images Tombstone SSM.png|Tombstone SSM Tombstone 3.png|Tombstone SSM Tombstone 2.png|Tombstone and Spider-Man SSM Tombstone 5.png|Tombstone's evil smirk SSM Tombstone 1.png|Tombstone using a punching bag to train his fighting skills. SSM Tombstone 4.png|Tombstone battles Spider-Man SSM Tombstone 6.png|Tombstone after his bail SSM Tombstone 7.png|Tombstone left in dismay after the Green Goblin takes over his Empire right under his nose the whole time. Videos Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Green Goblin crashes Tombstone's party Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Spider-Man vs Green Goblin part 1 3 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Spider-Man vs Green Goblin part 2 3 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Spider-Man vs Green Goblin part 3 3 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Green Goblin talks with Tombstone Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Spider-Man vs Green Goblin factory fight part 1 2 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Black Suit Spidey meets with Tombstone Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Tombstone hires Venom Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Gangland fight part 1 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Gangland fight part 2 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Gangland fight part 3 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Gangland fight part 4 Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) Gangland fight part 5 Trivia *This version of Tombstone is confirmed to be The Spectacular Spider-Man's version of the Kingpin, which could not be used due to copyright issues, and thus Tombstone is used instead. *It is unknown if Tombstone finds out about Norman Osborn being the Green Goblin all this time since his fate is left unknown after the series has ended. *Tombstone's fate in the series is left unknown. He could be still alive or he is killed offscreen by the Green Goblin. However, it is possible that if he was still alive, he could've returned if the series continued with more seasons. After the Green Goblin's defeat, he will still have trouble retaking his position as the Big Man since he is under surveillance by sixteen different government agencies. So it is unknown who will take over as the new Big Man of Crime. We will never know for sure. 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